Trump needs to demand answers on Khashoggi: NY Times

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Trump administration is not doing enough to demand answers on what happened to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper criticized the lack of anger and outrage from U.S. President Donald Trump in the two weeks since Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Saudi authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of Khashoggi’s fate, while several countries -- including Turkey and the U.K. -- have expressed their desire that the matter should be elucidated as soon as possible.

The president sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh to meet Saudi leaders, but Pompeo thanked King Salman bin Abdulaziz's commitment to a "thorough, transparent, and timely investigation," according to an editorial piece Tuesday.

"There are plenty of measures at Mr. Trump’s disposal that would send the right message, from personal sanctions against those behind the Khashoggi operation to a suspension of arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia," the newspaper wrote.

The only investigation being conducted is by Turkey, which has increasingly mounting evidence Khashoggi was killed by Saudi "thugs".

Some prominent U.S. lawmakers have taken a more confrontational stance with Saudi Arabia, criticizing the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"The MBS figure is, to me, toxic. He can never be a world leader on the world stage,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on the Fox & Friends morning program, referring to the crown prince.

Trump continues to defend the Saudi leadership's claims of denial, however, acting like a "royal apologist," the Times said.

"Mr. Trump’s aides, members of Congress and allied leaders need to insist that he take the lead in demanding that Saudi Arabia acknowledge what really happened, and why it’s terribly wrong," the Times wrote.